Take aways from the loss to the Bengals (Good and Bad)

[Logicallylethal]

The Bad

1) 6 straight possessions ending in a punt after going up 24-7
- That reversal on the big Lockett catch really hurt. We were on the verge of blowing the game wide open

2) Defense absolutely collapsing in the 4th
- Seahawks defense had forced a Bengals turnover or a punt on 7 of their first 8 drives until giving up 3 straight scoring drives in the 4th. 2nd lead we've blown

3) Defense collapsing becoming a trend
- Seahawks have given up 35 pts in the three 4th quarters games we have lost in. That is a bit concerning. We need to close out games better.

4) Cary Williams and Kam Chancellor
- Both had bad games after having a great game against the Lions. Kam blew a couple of easy coverages and got beat a couple times when he was isolated. Cary got torched a few times. One saved by a holding flag otherwise AJ Green was gone for 80+ yd td. Cary got hit with some ticky tack pass interference calls though.

The Good

1) Rawls is a reliable RB
- Give him some room to run and cut and he will produce. This gives us some leeway to allow Marshawn time to rest if his injury lingers. Outside chance that we've also found our RB of the future (too soon to tell though)

2) Offense can move the ball when we're not so conservative
- First drive was a thing of beauty. Fluent offense ending with Russ hitting Kearse for a nice TD (in the pocket)
- 2nd half first two drives were excellent. 7 plays 76 yds and 7 plays 65 yds. Should have scored a TD on both drives.

3) It's only week 5
- We'd all love to be 3-2 with all the momentum heading home after defeating an undefeated team. But in the words of Aaron Rodgers. Relax.

It's still early in the season. Next week is a winnable game against the Panthers at home. The Seahawks have blown two leads inexplicably otherwise we are sitting pretty at 4-1. In both games where we blew the lead we still had a chance to win in OT where Russell usually wins it for us (Bears game 2012, Broncos game 2013, etc) but we came up short twice.

Give us the lead and/or give Russell a chance to win the game again and we will succeed more often than not. No need to panic just yet fellas. We got our 3 toughest road games out of the way. 6 home games left. Arizona is the only tough road game left.

 

[flyerhawk]

The OL was better than last week's nightmare but still a long way from adequate.

 

[Guywithtoaster]

There was nothing good coming from that game. A 17 pt lead in the 4th quarter should be enough to win the game. 9-7 or 8-8 is how Seattle finishes the season.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

Still a slim hope. It sucks when the Seahawks lose and maybe this just isn't their year. However if the OL continues to improve, then that helps every thing and by every thing I mean it helps the offense click, which will help the defense. Got to go on long winning streak like last year.

 

[Logicallylethal]

There was nothing good coming from that game. A 17 pt lead in the 4th quarter should be enough to win the game. 9-7 or 8-8 is how Seattle finishes the season.

We were 3 and 3 last year as well (where we lost 3 close games). Still a lot of football to play. I wouldn't count our guys out yet.

 

[Anointed One]

The Bad

1) 6 straight possessions ending in a punt after going up 24-7
- That reversal on the big Lockett catch really hurt. We were on the verge of blowing the game wide open

2) Defense absolutely collapsing in the 4th
- Seahawks defense had forced a Bengals turnover or a punt on 7 of their first 8 drives until giving up 3 straight scoring drives in the 4th. 2nd lead we've blown

3) Defense collapsing becoming a trend
- Seahawks have given up 35 pts in the three 4th quarters games we have lost in. That is a bit concerning. We need to close out games better.

4) Cary Williams and Kam Chancellor
- Both had bad games after having a great game against the Lions. Kam blew a couple of easy coverages and got beat a couple times when he was isolated. Cary got torched a few times. One saved by a holding flag otherwise AJ Green was gone for 80+ yd td. Cary got hit with some ticky tack pass interference calls though.

Great overall post... Definitely agree with you, our defense collapsing has definitely become a trend... Not just in the 3 games we lost but the game against the Lions was almost a collapse by the defense... We were lucky that Kam forced that fumble and that the ref's didn't call KJ for batting that ball... That's how close we are to a record of 1-4...

If anything, I think the guy we're missing the most is Dan Quinn... Our defense is not what it once was with Kris Richard in charge of this unit...

The Good

1) Rawls is a reliable RB
- Give him some room to run and cut and he will produce. This gives us some leeway to allow Marshawn time to rest if his injury lingers. Outside chance that we've also found our RB of the future (too soon to tell though)

2) Offense can move the ball when we're not so conservative
- First drive was a thing of beauty. Fluent offense ending with Russ hitting Kearse for a nice TD (in the pocket)
- 2nd half first two drives were excellent. 7 plays 76 yds and 7 plays 65 yds. Should have scored a TD on both drives.

3) It's only week 5
- We'd all love to be 3-2 with all the momentum heading home after defeating an undefeated team. But in the words of Aaron Rodgers. Relax.

It's still early in the season. Next week is a winnable game against the Panthers at home. The Seahawks have blown two leads inexplicably otherwise we are sitting pretty at 4-1. In both games where we blew the lead we still had a chance to win in OT where Russell usually wins it for us (Bears game 2012, Broncos game 2013, etc) but we came up short twice.

Give us the lead and/or give Russell a chance to win the game again and we will succeed more often than not. No need to panic just yet fellas. We got our 3 toughest road games out of the way. 6 home games left. Arizona is the only tough road game left.

Rawls is a site for sore eyes... Love the way he runs... He doesn't dance behind the OL... He makes his decision/cut very quickly... I like his instincts...

Team definitely has Lockett in their plans in terms of getting the ball to him... We just have to hit him when he's open... If we can start doing that a few times, it will open things up in our passing game...

All in all, I'm always reminded from that clip in the movie, "FEVER PITCH"... It's the scene where the Red Sox players were enjoying dinner at a local bar after a loss... The fans there we complaining and blaming all the players/coaches for losing the game... Yet, the players were there enjoying their meal and one another... Point is, it's just a game... Sometimes fans need a reality check at times as well...

 

[boogiewithstu2007]

O could a put that game away and taken pressure off the D ... D was great after some blown coverages early... D did enough against a very good offense... O just needs to improve bottom line... Rawls was fantastic though and our line did a better job ... keep improving...

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

The bad, everything.

Kam was a mess.
Wilson is leaving the pocket way too early.
Bevell's playcalling sucks monkey testicles.
Cary Williams got EXPOSED big time.
Thomas missing over the top coverage a few times.
Wright absent from the game.
Jimmy Graham nowhere to be found.
Punt return coverage terrible.

 

[seattlefan75]

The seahawks offense looked good in the first half but the 3rd and 4th quarter they were nowhere to be found but honestly the passing game doesnt look all that much better it was the run game that really put in the work today that effort by rawls for a TD was amazing. Still this passing his very weak we still cant get jimmy graham the ball we marched the ball downfield on a huge play by doug baldwin and turned the ball over in the redzone (to the bengals credit it was a great tip ball for an INT) but not only did the offense not score points in the 3rd and 4th quarter they couldnt move the ball, if the hawks could at a minimum move the ball for first downs the bengals would have used their timeouts early and would have made it extremely difficult to make a come back. Instead they left the D out there to die and sooner or later the bengals offense executed their gameplan.

 

[Anointed One]

If we're not going to use Graham, let's trade him for a center...

 

[HaroldSeattle]

If we're not going to use Graham, let's trade him for a center...

Mmm think once the past protection improves they use him plenty. Novak actually didn't play to bad today...I think.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

If we're not going to use Graham, let's trade him for a center...

Uh, Nowak has been basically the best offensive lineman on the roster (see profootball focus). Trade for a RT or LG? Absolutely.

 

[Anointed One]

I was kidding...

 

[MrS]

17 points on offense. Despite the rushing yards and a few good drives our offense still sucks, we are still throwing to willson and not graham, still throwing on 3rd and short. Same old bevell mistakes.

Oh and cut fred jackson please, he is done. Never should have been in on the first ot drive, just so stupid.

 

[gohusk]

There's nothing good with blowing a 17 point lead in the 4th quarter. That blows everything else away. They need some drastic changes on offense fast and the defense needs to pull their heads out of their asses as well. That was the worst loss in a long time. I don't care if we weren't supposed to win. We had it won and any half-decent QB would have put it away. All they needed to do is get a couple of first downs and they couldn't.

We had the perfect opportunity to can Bevell and we didn't. Huge mistake. Then we make a huge splash once again with a big offseason acquisition and the same thing is happening that happened with Percy Harvin. Enough is enough. Time to take out some of the garbage.

 

[Cave_Johnson]

The bad, everything.

Kam was a mess.
Wilson is leaving the pocket way too early.
Bevell's playcalling sucks monkey testicles.
Cary Williams got EXPOSED big time.
Thomas missing over the top coverage a few times.
Wright absent from the game.
Jimmy Graham nowhere to be found.
Punt return coverage terrible.

I thought he did alright standing in there for most of the game. Just got jumpy as shit on the last couple drives. Still a problem that needs to be addressed though.

 

[Uhsplit]

The D cost us this game. We scored 24 points and had huge lead. That is normally a recipe for success.
I though the OL was much improved over recent showings.

 

[gohusk]

The D cost us this game. We scored 24 points and had huge lead. That is normally a recipe for success.
I though the OL was much improved over recent showings.

1. The D scored 7 of those points
2. We ended the game with 6 straight points.

The offense was pathetic in the 2nd half. We got a big lead, Bevell went into the shell that everyone bitches about with the ridiculously predictable play calling. Everyone's to blame but there's obviously one thing that's consistently wrong with this team, and that's the passing offense.

 

[dkmightyhammer]

My takeaways: Williams was terrible. If I was an opposing OC I'd throw it him all day long. Either you will get the reception or you'll draw a penalty. My opinion is he was the biggest reason we lost today.

Next, the offense went all conservative when we had the big lead. It reminded me of the Holmgren years where we'd try to milk a lead for more than 20 minutes and it would come back to bite us. It did.

Last, losing to Cincy is nothing to be ashamed of this year. They are real good. I was thinking this would likely be a loss since it was an early game on the road against a really good team. There are a lot of games left and almost all of our toughest ones are behind us now. If the team gets on a roll they will be in the hunt for the playoffs at the end.

 

[seattlefan75]

In overtime the seahawks won the toss and the offense barely a first down before punting. honestly if the defense stopped the bengals from scoring that field goal I dont see the offense taking the ball over at the 30 and marching down the field and scoring after watching them punt the ball over and over again.